Derogatory using the term chav?

[Diamond88]

So I've noticed a lot of responses to disliked names will immediately use the put down of 'chav' or 'chavvy'
I find it a very derogatory and those using it using it as a put down.
Are ppl referring to the lowly working class? Or those who don't have as much money?
Why is ok to use this term?
Or can anyone tell me what the term even means if I've got it wrong?

I think some names have just been tainted by association. Certain TV characters, probably. Nobody has the right to criticise anyone's choice of name, even if it's not to their personal taste.

I disagree. I think in real life it would be pretty poor form to tell someone you don’t like their child’s name but that’s why people use these boards - to find out honest opinions.
People make a lot of assumptions based on names. It’s not always fair but it is nether the less the truth. I want to genuinely know what the names I am thinking about mean to people and what assumptions they will make. What else is the point of a name board? I want honest opinions that people will be too polite to say to my face.

It is meant to be derogatory - that's the point.

Definition of chav - a young person of a type characterized by brash and loutish behaviour (usually with connotations of a low social status).
Y
ou can have money and be a chav. You can be very poor and definitely not be a chav. It is not about money or class as such, it is about behaviour.

In fact most name threads include many derogatory descriptions!

Very rarely is a name universally loved.

*In fact most name threads include many derogatory descriptions!

Very rarely is a name universally loved.*

Yes ^^ and people need to accept that when they solicit anonymous opinions.

The word is actually an old Romany word meaning "child". My dad is from the East End and uses it a lot to describe children. I agree that it's meaning has changed over the years and is now a derogatory term.

I'm surprised with the responses.
Nothing wrong with giving your opinion but doesn't anyone else see that using the term chav is derogatory?!I' also offensive????
Ppl can give their opinion without using such a term.
Sorry but I think it's tasteless,ignorant and wrong to use the term chav or chavvy.
I'm a teacher and pull 13 year old up on it!
I find it embarrassing grown adults using it as a throw away comment.
And I think most ppl using the Term ARE referring to working class or who they perceived to be a lower class than themselves

Yes it's really derogatory, so really not the same as eg calling a name posh, try-hard, naff etc. It's quite a nasty term. So no I wouldn't use it.

Interesting that it used to mean child, Liveat!

And I find that what people are generally really describing when they add a 'class' issue to a name is either

a. that it is a new invented name OR a name spelled differently to the classic way - implication being that this is a naff, uneducated thing to do, to try and be unique and just look silly;

b. that the name in question is a generally unusual one which has suddenly become really popular - implication being that the common hordes have 'discovered' it and now it's everywhere.

Chav isn't a description of class or financial status. The definition provided by pp answers your question, certain names are more likely to be associated with that type of behaviour regardless of the social or financial status.

I'd be more concerned with a grown adult and supposed teacher using 'ppl'

codenameduchess in the context of an online forum I think the abbreviation 'ppl' is fine regardless of my job

So you're saying you care more about teachers using 'proper' language then ppl using a derogatory term such as chav. Unbelievable!

I'm working class I don't think it has anything to do with class it's an attitude/ behaviour not a class in my opinion.

Why on earth is it NOT ok to use derogatory terms to describe poor behaviour? Isn't that the entire point of them?

I’d agree that chav is a behavioural thing rather than a class issue. We were abroad recently in a not particularly cheap hotel and I can assure you there were an awful lot of chavvy parents there- drinking all day, loud and loutish... they were chavs but they weren’t poor.

Bingo I think in context of baby names, the issue is that it's not describing behaviour, but describing a name using that word. So, derogatory towards the name or the person called that.

OP it's definitely not about money or social class, it's about behaviour. Being loutish or acting commonly. I'm sure you know what posters are getting at?

I don't think it refers directly to class as such.

If I heard the word i'd think of rowdy people in tracksuits drinking tins and having rows in the street, skanky hen parties getting pissed up on trains, groups of lads out on the town being dickheads, spitting in the street and shouting.

And yes, I would use it in a derogatory manner, because I would find the above behaviour tasteless.

I’d agree that chav is a behavioural thing rather than a class issue.

Agreed.

Why are you so offended OP? Is your name Nevaeh?

What do you think derogatory means OP? Are you confusing it with discriminatory?

I think it’s behaviour not class driven as well. Not that I use the word but if I did I would say that piercing the ears of a baby is chavvy but my opinion would be based on the behaviour, not linked to social class or wealth at all.

It is totally class related OP.
I’ve heard people defend their use of it on the basis it’s about ‘behaviour’
I called Katy Hopkins a chav in here before, to test that theory, and was told over and over that she’s not a chav.
So there you go.
I think chav is an awful word, and i think it’s said by people who probably aren’t much higher on the ring than those their insulting, so they say it to try and prove their ‘betterment’

It's absolutely a classist term, the UK is obsessed with class, but those who love to bandy it abut will of course swear otherwise.

Why are you so offended OP? Is your name Nevaeh?